To be at a mirror is to either be detached from everything which is happening, or to not care what happens at all. (Ex. – We were there bleeding, and bloody and she was at her mirror.) Origin – A reference to the historic tail of the wife of Lord Wickham, who when questioned where she was when her husband’s men revolted, stormed his hall and chased him around the room for ten minutes screaming before beating him slowly to death with a leg of beef they stole from his kitchen, remarked that she had been at her mirror doing her hair the entire time and hadn’t heard a thing.

At the Applause –

At the end/in the end. (Ex. – We hid as best we could, but she found us at the applause.) Origin – A reference to the applause that comes at the end of a show/song/performance.

B

Bender –

A young man who thinks about sex regularly, but more often than not has little experience of it. (Ex. – That one’s nothing more than an excitable bender, don’t believe a word he says.)

Blinking-Off –

Falling asleep. (Ex. – I can’t remember what he said, I was blinking off.)

Bone-Pick –

To kill in a slow and violent way. (Ex.- If It was between being beheaded or bone-picked, I’d rather lose my head.)

Bone-Rapist -

A person who partakes in/enjoys acts of necrophilia. (Ex.- Oh, you’re as disgusting as a bone-rapist!)

Brain-Thrust –

See ‘Skull Fuck’

Brightly –

On the bright side. (Ex. – We lost half our catch to that shark, but brightly he also lost that pesky fishing lad who never shut up.)

Bugger me Sideways –

No direct translation, but is usually used as an example of something you would rather happen to you than a stated alternative – (Ex.- You can bugger me sideways, I’m not marrying your poxy daughter.)/ Or something you would want to be punished with if you did something you specified against. (Ex.- Well bugger me sideways if I ever become one of them!) Origin – The term comes from Saphar’s character Kelkut, from The Traveller, who always added ‘sideways’ after a verb whenever he was cussing, on account of his crab-like way of walking.

Butter me up –

To flatter someone. (Ex. – Oh, you butter me up so well, you little tease.)

C

Cat’o –

A Cat’o’nine-tails/A type of whip with nine thongs. (Ex. – The Lord used a Cat’o to beat him, the poor bastard won’t be making that mistake again.)

Charm a favour –

To easily persuade someone to do something for you, (Ex.- You sure know how to charm a favour out of a man, here have all my gold.)

Cold and Cut –

To be cruel/ruthless (Ex. – I understand sacking him of his gold, but setting him on fire? That’s just cold and cut.) Origin – From tales of how some sea voyages would lead sailors to freezing countries made of ice. Many of the sailors lost outer extremities to the cold, and there were stories that some thieves would use this to their advantage and steal rings or items of jewellery by simply cutting off the unfeeling extremity when the sailors slept.

Confetti and Parades –

A jubilant exclamation, more often than not used sarcastically. (Ex. – I have a new baby son? Well Confetti and Parades – another mouth to feed.)

Corpse –

To Corpse someone is to kill them.

Credit –

To credit someone is to pay them. (Ex. – I’ve worked all day, credit me already!)

Crimson Washer –

Another word for Bean Nighe – (Ex. – Down by the river, I saw a Crimson washer.) Origin – Bean Nighe’s wash bloodied clothing in the river, foretelling death. Crimson washer is in reference to colour of the blood they attempt in vain to scrub away.

Cull fish –

A useless/ unwanted person. (Ex. – Gah, you’re nothing but a Cull fish boy!) Origin – Cull Fish was originally a fish monger’s term for the fish which no one wanted to buy.

Cupboard’ed –

To have kept many things to yourself. (Ex. – He cupboard’ed so much, it’s no wonder he cracked.)

D

Dance –

To Dance in this context is to care, or to do something about a problem/situation. It’s normally used as a negative however. (Ex. – He can beg naked and covered in shite for all I’ll dance.) Origin – One of the first priests of the True Gods in Bethean was said to have a nervous twitch, and it was said when he grew particularly concerned and upset by something his feet used to twitch and spasm. Whenever this happened, the priest was normally distressed enough to attempt to rectify the situation which had set him off. He was called the ‘Dancing Priest’, and people came from far and wide to see him ‘dance’, as it usually meant food, warmth and money if they could upset him enough to get his feet twitching.

Do it with Oil –

Do something the easy way. (Ex. – Look we can do this with oil, or spend the rest of day wasting our time.) Origin – The use of oil makes mechanics move with more ease, and also makes certain acts of intimacy less painful and slicker.

Dog Yourself –

To Dog Yourself is to sit up straight in attention. (Ex. – I told him what would happen if he didn’t listen properly – that made him Dog himself if nothing else.) Origin – In reference to the way Dog’s sit upright when something has they’re attention.

Double Coined –

To be double coined is to be over charged. (Ex.- What do you mean it’s two gold coins!? You’re double coining me, you shit!)

Dunce’d –

Punished. (Ex. – I dunce’d him good and proper for his incompetence.)

F

Feed the Grate Pluckings –

To feed the grate pluckings is to start trying someone’s temper. The words can be mixed around for the same effect. (Ex. – You’re really starting to put pluckings on the grate, woman.) Origin – A reference to when cooks would use the plucked feathers and unwanted parts of chickens and other poultry to kindle a fire quickly.

Fire-Eater –

To be a Fire-Eater, is to be wrathful. (Ex.- That one’s a Fire-Eater, he’ll kill any man who even looks at his wife.) Origin – From the myth that wrathful people had a fire burning inside their bellies, and could therefore eat flames. Many people died to prove this myth wrong. The myth itself may have been invoked by Children of Aramathea, born under Athea. (For more on Children of Aramathea, look here.)

Flashing Teeth –

To make a groundless threat. (Ex. – When the wench’s husband told me he’d batter me bloody he wasn’t just flashing his teeth.) Origin – A reference to dogs who bare their teeth, but never bite.

Fluff-Looks –

A pitiful/vulnerable expression. (Ex.- I was told to kill the rabbit for dinner, but it gave me such a fluff-look I couldn’t do it.)

Fuel my Hair –

To get the upper-hand. (Ex.- They were coming at me from all angles, but I managed to fuel the bastards’ hair in the end.) Origin – Pirates off Lemra were rumoured to cover those sailors they defeated in oil and set them on fire. This proved to be the act of one man only, Captain Blacksword (Born Peter Garth), whose fascination with fire led to his ship eventually sinking when during such a display one man set the mast aflame, and another ran down below desk and set fire to the hull.

G

Get out the Onions –

Force yourself to cry. (Ex. – Ah, the mother in law’s finally died, I’d better get the onions out.) Origin – Second rate Thespians often kept slices of onions hidden in their sleeves to rub against their eyes when they were required to cry on stage.

Glazed-Eyed –

To be Glazed-Eyed is to be jealous or envious. (Ex.- She was so glazed-eyed about her sister’s wedding and new man, she smothered her and married him instead.) Origin – From the idea that envious people see the things they want as better than they are.

Glinted –

To be rich. (Ex.- You sure you can’t pay this ransom? You look glinted enough to me.) Origin – From the way rich people dress in expensive, gold and jewel inlaid clothes.

Golden Arc –

To urinate. (Ex. – I drank all night, and then golden arced all morning.)

Gold-Licker –

Someone who loves money. (Ex.- My Father’s such a Gold-Licker he’d rather die than lose his money.)

Grain –

Income – (Ex.- My wife works all day, and I spent her grain on whiskey all night.) Origin – From a time when most men farmed and traded their grain/goods for other food and service.

Groping Turnips –

A Sign of desperation – (Ex. – Now you’re just groping turnips, boy!) Origin – The idea of sexualising vegetables or household objects because you are not getting any.

H

Hands are Puppet’ed –

To surrender. (Ex. – Alright, my hands are puppet’ed, I swear.) Origin – Reference to the way hands are raised in surrender, and the way stringed puppets look when they’re carried.

Half-Pint –

Someone small, young or unprofessional/foolish. (Ex.- That new Stable-boy’s a Half-Pint in every sense of the word.)

Have no Teeth –

To have no teeth is to have nothing on someone. (Ex.- He’s six-foot eight, rippled like a bull and has never lost a fight, but compared to me he’s got no teeth!)

Head-Scratch –

Work out/deduce/think – (Ex. – No, he didn’t stop to head-scratch that that might be a bad idea.) Origin – This obviously refers to the act of scratching one’s head as one thinks something through.

Head-Screw –

See ‘Skull-Fuck’

High-Minded –

Arrogant/Stuck in your way. (Ex.- Quit being so High-Minded, you’re no better than the rest of us.)

High-Pitcher –

A Eunuch. (Ex.- He didn’t look at her breasts once – you sure he ain’t a High-Pitcher?) Origin – From the fact that some singers gelded themselves to maintain a sweet, high-voice.

Hopping too far along the stepping stones –

To be getting ahead of yourself/ to be missing the point. (Ex.- Hold on a minute – you’re hopping too far along the stepping stones now, that’s not what I meant at all!)

Humping a Reaper –

To be near death/ in grave peril. (Ex. – Coughing blood, blind and too frail to move – that one’s humping a reaper.) Origin – The idea of being so close to death, you are intimately touching it.

J

Juiced –

If something is juiced it is incorrect, or has been tampered with. (We’re not lost because I’m a fool, we’re lost because the map is juiced!) Origin – From the fable of a tavern-owner who used to flavour water with grape-juice and vinegar and pass it for high-priced wine. When his patrons discovered the truth, they made the inn-keeper drink a gallon of the foul drink, and he consequently died of a disturbed stomach a few weeks later.

K

Kelpie-mounts –

Something terrible (Ex. – There are thing’s I’ve seen that could be Kelpie-Mounts) /A terrible person. (Ex. – You don’t want to anger her father, he’s a Kelpie-Mount.) Origin – Kelpies are monstrous horses that drag their victims to the bottoms of lakes or pools to a watery grave and tear them apart. The term ‘Kelpie-Mount’ then applies to the horrifying creature which would ride such a monster.

Knot –

Life. (Ex. – He has a sorry knot.) Origin – There are two theories of the origin of this, one is the idea that life is nothing but a tangled mess, the other is that a Sailor who gets throne over-board during a storm relies entirely on his guide-rope having been knotted properly to the mast – the knot is his life.

L

La’man –

The act of one man raping another, or partaking in rough sex. (Ex.- Do as I say boy, or I’ll La’man you good and proper.)

Lap it –

To Lap something is to enjoy it. (Ex. – You saw her naked? Did you lap it?) Origin – A bastardization of the term ‘lapping something up.’

Leashing –

To leash someone, to find/get control of them. (Ex.- The butcher’s boy was a pain in the arse, till his father finally leashed him.) Origin – Leashed is another word for ‘Gelding’.

Licking –

To really want to do something. (Ex. – I was licking to have a chance with her before she was married.) Origin – Most probably reference to the action of licking one lips in expectation of something. This saying is claimed to be responsible for a small phase in Lemra’n history where a notorious group of thieves would lick their intended targets as way of marking ownership. This practise, however, died out when one thief licked the daughter of a notorious Faucon assassin. The daughter proceeded to nail the thief’s tongue, which him still attached, to her father’s table and in some accounts sat opposite him and, carving bits of him off, proceeded to eat him alive piece by piece.

Licking the Wall –

To lick the wall is to stall, or prolong the inevitable. (Ex. – Stop licking the wall, you’re getting a tanning excuses or not.) Origin – The origin of this is dubious. Some say it is in reference to Laborus, a notorious half-wit in Lemra who, in the act of being caught trespassing, tried to convince a guard that he was in-fact merely mad by licking the wall. More likely, the saying originates from dehydrated prisoners on death-row who often resorted to licking the walls of their prisons for moisture.

Lip-bite –

To have a ‘Lip-bite’ is to have a care, or concern over something. Usually used in a negative sense. (Ex. – I’ll pillage for the rest of my life without a single lip-bite.) Origin – From people biting their lip when they are worried.

M

Make like a Three-legged Lamb –

A satirical suggestions that instructs to you flee fast, whilst implying that you’re not going to make it. (Ex. – Hurrry, make like a three-legged lamb!) Origin – A cruel play on the idea of three-legged lambs trying to flee their farmers unsuccessfully before being culled.

Marzipan and Sweetcakes –

A jubilant exclamation, normally used sarcastically.(Ex. – We’re all going to die? Oh Marzipan and Sweetcakes.) Origin – Marzipan and Sweetcakes were the sort of treats reserved to the rich, or to very special occasions, such as weddings or births. Therefore their presence marked something joyful.

N

Nothing pumpkin –

A suspicious form of dismissal, often used ironically when someone has obviously been caught in the act of wrong doing, and attempts to pretend they have not. (Ex.-*A man is caught pushing a freshly murdered corpse into an open wardrobe.* “What are you doing?” “Nothing pumpkin.”) Origin – Despite popular belief that the addition of ‘Pumpkin’ was supposed to be an endearment, the origin of this term actually stems from the legend of the worst thief in Lemra. The thief allegedly had an inability to control his mouth, and if ever caught in or after the act of any theft – however well executed – could not help but announce the very thing he had stolen whilst denying his guilt. The word Pumpkin is used specifically as this was allegedly the last thing the thief ever stole, not because he saw the error of his ways, but because the Pumpkin Farmer proceeded to beat him to death.

O

Organ-Sack –

A corpse. (Ex.- We’d better bury that organ-sack before it starts to smell.)

P

Pel-Thrusting –

The motion of humping. (Ex. – He was pel’thrusting the bed for a good ten minutes before he realised the wife wasn’t beneath him.)

Pint’ed –

Spilt – more often used in the context of spilling blood or alcohol. (Ex. – They got into a fight over who spilt the ale, and my Da pint’ed some of the fucker’s blood) Origin – It is probably a reference to the inevitable spills you have when you fill up a full pint.

Piss your pot –

To be alarmed/frightened/surprised (Ex.- It’s just me – no need to piss your pot!)

Pissing a Brawl –

To Piss a Brawl is to have an excellent time. (Ex. – My man leaves me to care for the babes every night while he goes to piss a brawl with a drink.)

Pit –

A Pit is something which is fruitless, (Ex. – We went looking for the miller’s daughter, it was a pit.)/ A person described as a Pit is someone who is useless. (Ex. – We went to ask him for help, but he was an absolute Pit.) The Pit as a name also refers to Lemra itself. (Ex. – We were fishing all-night, and set sail back for the Pit come morning.)

Pity-Kill

To Pity-Kill is to perform an act of Euthanasia. (Ex.- He was squirming and bleeding all over the place, so I pity-killed him and put him out of his misery.)

Play Dead

To relax for a while. (Ah, just ignore her a play dead for a little while longer.) Origin – From the Lemra’n story of a man who married such a stupid wife that whenever she wanted him to do something, he’d pretend to be dead and she’d go and do it herself in woe and tears.

Plucking a Rose –

To be bleeding. (Ex. – I fell outside the house and was plucking a rose from my knee for ten minutes.) Origin – A reference to the act of plucking a rose, which often leads to bleeding fingers from the thorns.

Pocketless –

To be broke/ have no money. (Ex.- I don’t have two coppers to rub together – I’m pocketless) Origin – The idea that you are so broke you don’t even poses pockets to put money into.

Pockets picked –

To find your ‘pockets picked’, aside from the obvious, also means to be underpaid. (Ex.- I worked for ten hours in the scorching sun for a copper and a thank you? My pockets have been picked!)

Pouring into the same Cup –

To be in agreement with someone/to work in tandem with someone. (Ex. – Gold, eh? Now we’re pouring into the same cup.) Origin – A reference to the ancient tradition of mixing a little of your own drink into someone else’s to show an agreed partnership and to prove that neither drink has been poisoned.

Pulses –

If something ‘Pulses’ it is alive. (Ex. – Half drowned, but he still pulses. He’ll be fine.) Origin – A clear reference to the pulse of a heartbeat.

Putting Salt on the Slug –

Being needlessly cruel. (Ex. – Beating him with a haddock I can understand, but locking him out of the house after? Now that’s just putting salt on the slug.)

Q

Quarter-Wit

An extremely stupid person. (Ex.- Help me find some rope, my damned Quarter-wit of a brother has fallen down the well again.) Origin – An extension of Half-wit, for even stupider people.

R

Rest-Easy –

If something is Rest-Easy, it’s comforting, or assuring or reliable. (Ex. – A guy like that makes stabbing look rest-easy.)

Rah –

Yes. (Ex. – Rah, I understand.) Origin – Lemra’n sailors allegedly found the ‘y’ sound too gentle and deemed that a more rugged letter should be used in its place. Rah then evolves from ‘Yah’.

River-Run –

To go along with, carry on, pursue or persist with something. (Ex. – I may be tired, but I’ll river-run with this work till it’s done.) Origin – as the river does not easily stop, neither does someone who is river-running.

Savvy can mean pleasant, (Ex.- It’s such a savvy evening, be a shame to spoil it with bloodshed) / Or it can mean alright/accord, (Ex.- You do as I say, or I’ll stick you – are we savvy on that?) Origin – Pirate/Sailor talk brought back into harbour with the ships.

Seal your Barrel –

Shut up/Put a lid on it (Ex.- Stop complaining and seal your barrel)

Sew your Mouth –

Shut up. (Ex. – Ah, sew your mouth wench!) Origin – From the old wives tale that children who weren’t quiet and talked too much would have their mouths sewn up in the night by faeries.

Sharp –

An accusation/the blame. (Ex.- Don’t point your sharp at me!) Origin – From the idea that an accusation can be as dangerous and as deadly as a knife.

Shine-Grabber –

A greedy person/Someone who will do anything for money. (Ex.- That little shine-grabber sold us out for a hand of silvers!”

Shut-Eyed –

Sleeping. (Ex. – We shaved off all his hair whilst he was shut-eyed.)

Silk-Skirt

See ‘Whoopsie’

Skull-Fuck –

The act of performing violent sexual acts with a facial orifice other than the mouth, such as the eye-socket, nostril, or ear – please note the other participant does not always have to be strictly alive, and can be in any state of decomposition (see Bone-Rapist). Normally when used in conversational context this term is only meant as a vulgar, but often empty threat with no genuine intent, or is used as a term to promise other unspecified forms of torture/beating. (Ex. – If I ever see your grimy face here again, I’ll skull-fuck you, d’you hear?)

A person who looks venomous, or is making accusations with their eyes. (Ex.- Easy there, Snake-Eyes, I didn’t do it!) Origin – From tales of a foreign snake that paralyses its prey with a single look before devouring it. A story goes that some sailors were commissioned to bring such a snake back from the foreign lands, but the snake paralysed the entire crew and devoured them all. The reality of this tale is the snake got loose on the ship, and the sailors became so panicked looking for it, they failed to see a cluster of rocks up ahead, ultimately resulting in the ship and the crew’s demise. The snake did, however, succeed in biting one man, but he drowned much before the venom could kill him.

Snivel a Shield –

To snivel a shield is to get someone on your side through the means of pity, empathy or vulnerability. (Ex. – Ah the craven managed to snivel a shield from the tavern-keeper’s wife, and she wouldn’t let us in.) Origin – Literally a translation of crying to get someone onto your side.

Sodded –

To be lying unintentionally or for personal gain, or to be mistaken// Also meant to imply stupidity/ simplicity of mind. – (Ex.- I’m sodded if I say I can help you.)

Sucker –

Persuade/Sway – (Ex.- You’re not going to sucker me to do anything with an empty purse, boy.)

Sucklers –

A suckler is someone who is vulnerable, or requires a dominant figure to guide/take care of them. (Ex. – The drunkard I can understand you locking away, but his companion’s nothing but a suckler.) Origin – Suckler is also a word for a baby, personified by the way babies suckle their mother’s breasts.

Sugar-powdered –

Someone High-born/rich. (Ex. – Oh that sugar powdered fool’s never worked a day in his life.) Origin – A reference to the fact that sugar was reserved for those who were rich enough to afford it, and the high-class fashion of appearing pale by powdering the skin.

Sun-Kissed –

Burnt in both the mild and serious sense. (Ex. – He was sun-kissed and red all over by the time he returned from the sea.) (Ex. – They dosed him in oil and sun-kissed him, so no one would ever know who he was.) Origin – From the ancient belief that the sun gave us fire.

Sweeter –

Better. (Ex. – It’d be sweeter if we don’t get caught breaking the law.) Origin – Again from the idea that ‘sweetness’ is better as it was attributed with higher-classes and higher-living.

Sweet-Bloods –

Innocents/Innocent bystanders/Children, (Ex. – We let the sweet-bloods get out before we started to fight.) Origin – From the theory that bad people and criminals have sour blood, so in contrast innocents must have sweet.

Sympathy-Cut –

See ‘Pity-Kill’.

T

Take a Rack –

To require insistence – (Ex. – We had to take a rack to him before he gave in.) / To require genius/brains – (It hardly takes a rack to know this is never going to work!)

Tap back –

Report back/reply – (Ex.- I’ll tap back when I get there.) Origin – When Sailors wanted to report certain messages below deck without having to go down, they would often knock a code against the wood instead.

Tommy-Boy –

A Tool/ A person who allows everyone to take advantage of them. (Ex.- Go find me that Tommy-Boy, I need the fence fixed before the Wife gets back.)

An unspecified length of time. (Ex. – How long ‘till dinner, oh a thousand beats or so) Origin – Possibly a reference to the fact that to dance to, or sing a song with a thousand beats is said to be lucky before setting sail, but as most of the Lemra’n sailors have trouble counting, and or can’t be bothered to see the whole song through, a thousand beats could mean any length of time or song.

Thumb –

To ‘Thumb’ something, is to do it right or succeed at it – (Ex.- You just about thumb the test.) Origin – From the action of putting your thumb up.

Thumb-Screw –

An annoying/torturous/cruel person. (Ex.- That one’s a thumb-screw if I ever knew one, talks all day and then snores all night.) Origin – The Thumb-screw is originally an implement of torture.

To Tickle someone’s thirst, is to sate my curiosity. (Ex. – Now come, tickle my thirst, tell me how you did it.) Origin – To tickle is to humour someone, and thirst in this sense is the desire for something. So tickle my thirst is to humour a desire, in this case a curiosity.

Tip-Toed –

To be tip-toed is to be excited/delighted by something. (Ex. – I gave him a new dress, and he was positively tip-toed about it.)

To Brain –

To think/understand/consider. (Ex.- Give me a moment to brain this one out.)

Toffee-glazed –

Wonderful. (Ex. – A bag of unclaimed gold in the middle of the road? Well that’s toffee-glazed!) Origin – From the fact toffee was thought to be lucky and good for you, due to its yellow colour and sweet taste – it was the personification of wealth.

Tongue-less –

To be so drunk you cannot distinguish, or do not care about what things taste like. (Ex. – He was so tongue-less he drank an entire pint of horse-piss before we told him it wasn’t beer.)

Trained-Ejaculater

A man-whore – usually who pleasures other men or dominating women. (Ex.- Sharing yourself out like that, no wonder they call you a Trained-Ejaculater.)

Tripping a little short of the chord –

Not making a good (normally first) impression. – (Ex.- I don’t mean to be rude, but what with your son having just killed the bride’s mother and the groom, I can’t help but think he might be tripping a little short of the chord here.)

Tripping –

Tripping to a place is to wondering aimlessly toward it. (Ex. – We saw her meandering through a field, tripping to someplace or another.) Origin – As ‘tripping’ is often applied to people who are day-dreaming as they’re walking, or not walking with any purpose, it’s a reference to the fact that these sorts of people often end up tripping as they aren’t paying attention to where they’re going.

U

Unplucked –

To be unplucked is to be a virgin. (Ex.- She told her new husband she was unplucked, but I know better.)

W

Wax Me –

To be defeated by someone. (Oh, he totally waxed me.) Origin – From a story that when King Edwin of Bethean asked his new bride to get rid of her body hair by waxing herself, she tied him up and waxed his whole body instead, including his manhood.

Weep a Wedding Dress –

An insult directed to a man deemed to be being pathetic, or effeminate. (Ex.- He only stabbed you, stop weeping a wedding dress already!)

Wheat –

See ‘Grain’.

Whoopsie –

A man enjoys wearing women’s clothes recreationally. (Ex. – Never realised my Da was a Whoopsie, till I caught him in my Ma’s dress.) Origin – From the rather ambiguous rumour that when one of the Kings of Bethean was caught trying on his Queen’s clothes he exclaimed ‘Whoopsie, I didn’t realise they were hers.’

Whoopsie-Bashing –

A physical form of abuse against a transvestite. (He wasn’t beating no woman, he’s just a whoopsie-bashing arse.)

Whoopsie-Savvy –

To be excepting of/to be a transvestite. (Ex.- My Whoopsie-savvy self.)

Whore-ary –

A glorified residence for high-class prostitutes. (Ex. – That good for nothing sod spends every weekend down at the whore-ary.)

Whoring the Work –

Doing all the work. – (Ex. – I’ve been whoring all the work while you sit back and relax.)